Changing Ideas About What is a Safe Blood Lead Level

The table I have in mind when I interpret blood lead levels is called “Blood Lead” and can be found here.

My best guess, based on the one, the only national blood lead survey ever done in Australia, is that typically the mean blood lead level for Australian children is about 7 years behind the mean blood lead for US children.

The (November 2012) recommendation of The LEAD Group is that everyone has a blood lead level below 1 microgram per decilitre and that action be taken to lower blood lead levels that are above 1 microgram per decilitre.

You can find a list of news articles generated by two professors from our Technical Advisory Board (Professor Mark Taylor and Professor Chris Winder), on the subject of lowering Australian guidelines on blood lead available online here.

Nearly a year ago, the Today Tonight Ch 7 Lead Story was broadcast on 5th March 2013, and is available online (with a fact sheet). The Ch 7 news headline “The health of as many as 100,000 children under the age of five is under threat from lead pollution, linked to intellectual and behavioural problems” refers to Professor Taylor’s estimate that 100,000 Australian children under 5, probably have a blood lead level above 5 ug/dL.

There are two media releases that explain the dangers of blood lead levels above 2 micrograms per decilitre in both adults and children:

In Germany, since 2009, children up to the age of 14 get action from their doctor and the health department, if the blood lead level exceeds 3.5 ug/dL and the action level for women is 7 ug/dL and for men 9 ug/dL.

In Western Australia, the health department investigates, including home lead assessment, any blood lead level above 5 ug/dL for a child up to the age of 5 yrs.

Canada is currently considering making blood lead levels above 1 ug/dL the new action level, so that’s what The LEAD Group has asked the federal government to consider for Australians of all ages, so we can lead the world in having the most stringent response level, just like we currently lead the world in the volume of lead exports.

See for instance, the “Health Canada Final Human Health State of the Science Report on Lead” states: “Health effects have been associated with BLLs as low as 1–2 μg/dL… It is considered appropriate to apply a conservative approach when characterizing risk; accordingly, additional measures to further reduce exposures of Canadians to lead are warranted.”

Taylor, Winder, Lanphear call to lower Australian intervention PbB, MJA states: “…reviews [by the World Health Organization, Germany’s Human Biomonitoring Commission and US national agencies such as the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Toxicology Program and Environmental Protection Agency, as well as Health Canada] indicate that the current [Australian] National Health and Medical Research Council [NHMRC] guideline for lead (10 ug/dL) is too high and should be revised downwards.”

Hopefully this information will motivate you to contact your Federal Health Minister to ask the Health Minister why your federal health department has not revised the blood lead action level downwards.

Yours Sincerely,

Elizabeth O’Brien
Winner of the United Nations Assoc’n of Australia (UNAA) World Environment Day (WED) Award for Outstanding Service to the Environment,
Manager, Global Lead Advice & Support Service (GLASS) run by The LEAD Group Inc.
PO Box 161 Summer Hill NSW 2130 Australia